This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Handheld rotary cutters are commonly used to cut layers of fabric, cardboard, paper, vellum or other materials. Rotary cutters typically include a body with a handle attached thereto for gripping by a user. A generally circular head includes a surface to which a substantially circular cutting blade is attached.
Although a variety of conventional handheld rotary cutters are available, many such cutters possess a number of drawbacks. For example, in order to remove and/or attach a cutting blade to the cutter, a user must often directly touch a portion of the cutting blade. This is undesirable since it poses a safety hazard. Additionally, because it is often desirable in some rotary cutters to “store” the cutting blade when not in use (i.e., so that a user is not accidentally injured by the blade when the device is being transported, for example), a mechanism is needed to easily and securely move the blade from an “in use” position to a “storage” position and vice versa. However, such mechanisms can also result in the blade moving to a small extent during use, since the mechanism to which the blade is operatively connected inherently may have a certain amount of “give” or looseness. This can result in the rotary cutter operating at a less than desirable level.